EXPLORING INDIA : From Kaziranga to the Himalayas to the desert of Jaisalmer to the backwaters of Allepey to the sun baked coral beaches of Lakshadweep....A first hand account of exploring this beautiful country.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Welcome to middle age: Have you got your BP, Cholesterol and Sugar checked

I will soon be completing 34 years of mortal existence. At 76 kilos for a height of 5’9”, I am not certainly overweight. Even after 6 years of marital bliss, the tummy bulge is not that prominent. I had always thought that I have got a healthy physique. Even many of my colleagues also felt that way. Do I? Well, it just took 24 hours to have another perspective of life.

Last forthnight, I went to the hospital with the simple objective of getting some antacids for acidity that has been bothering me. The lady doctor advised me to get the BP checked. I could see from her expression that she was a bit surprised at the readings. It was 140 –100. The doctor made several enquiries about my age, family history of diabetes, heart problems, etc. I told her that my family has no history of diabetes, but my father expired at the age of 52 of a heart attack. The doctor suggested me to get an ECG done and also get both sugar and cholesterol checked as I am entering the potentially dangerous late 30s. The ECG was OK, but the results of blood test made many eyes popped out. At 112, Sugar (fasting) has just crossed the normal upper limit of 110. Fortunately, it is not that alarming. People with reading of 125 and above are diagnised for diabetes. But cholesterol had a reading of 298. The doctor said it is high. But when we did some research on the net, we found that a reading upto 200 is normal, upto 250 is borderline high and above 250 is HIGH RISK zone. The ratio of LDL (Bad) Cholesterol to Total Cholesterol should be below 5. But mine was 6.1. Triglyceride reading was 196 as against normal values of 160 The realization dawned on me that I am a sitting duck, waiting for a heart attack to occur. And all these were happening while I was thinking that I am in good health. I had read that built up of high cholesterol in blood do not show any outer signs until it stuck you after few years. The normal age for heart attacks in man is above 40.

Reducing sugar will not be a problem. I just need to cut down the number of sweets I take. But Cholesterol? This situation has obviously not been because of food intake in the last few months or so. But it has been getting built over last few years. So it will take effort for much longer period to bring it down to desired level. I now repent the lazy weekends which I spent by lying on the bed and watching TV. Inactivity is one of the main cause. I have been suggested several ways to bring BP and Cholesterol down – the most common being regular walking and physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day. The other option is to take to Yoga regularly. It is good that these days many Indian TV channels are showing programs by Swami Ramdev. Two of the yoga, viz. anulom-bilom and kapal-bhati, are specially meant for lowering BP and Cholesterol and also sugar. And of course, you need a drastic change in your menu. Well, now I am into all of it. I have no reason for wanting to leave this world early.

My results had made many to get their tests done. I should have got these tests done at least 2 years back. In fact, if you are above 32, you should also get a sugar and lipid profile test done which will give you an idea about how to live in the years to come. If you want to know more about Cholesterol and other blood test results, then you may read on the following links which I found very useful---

1 comment:

hi rups...first timer here....am so happy to find a blogger from dehradun..well i am also from doon...last year shifted to b'lore..ONGC.....wah wah...never knew ppl at ONGC were found of blogging...just kidding...n i used to stay very near to the ONGC colony in doon..will be back tomm...to read ur posts...till then cheerios

About Me

Blogger, Traveller, Photographer. An engineer by qualification (BE - Production), supplemented by an MBA degree, I work as a HR professional for one of the largest Indian corporate - ONGC- a Govt of India enterprise.